Thursday, January 29, 2009

Vertigo Pop Tokyo 1 page 14

I think Seth made these scans when he was trying to sell some artwork; they were saved in 2002. They don't have the kind of high resolution that he used when he was saving things for posterity. Or maybe it was just that his old scanner was not as good as one he got later; I'm not sure. But anyway, we will take what we've got.

Maki walks into the Koban to save the day for Steve. Seth shows us Maki in the first frame like an old time cowboy hero, surrounded by clouds and framed by the sun.

The large frame of Steve in the koban is set about 30 degrees off, showing Steve's frame of mind. All these peculiar things are happening to him: first he is detained by the police for he has no idea what; then he is saved by a strange schoolgirl for he has no idea what reason. Can he ever make sense of Japan?

The bottom two frames show Maki and her girlfriend Mizumi flanking Steve as they walk out through downtown Tokyo, where all the details of life in the big city are evident. Seth was very interested in the manga-esque style of having the people in the story quite cartoonish, but the setting realistic. He made a conscious effort to draw this story in a manga style. This aspect is one that is usual in manga but unusual in American comic books.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

An online article published two days ago read "You must not live another day without enjoying the art of Seth Fisher", and that in the writers opinion, "In the case of Fisher, every page the man laid down was a minor miracle." Today as I think about Seth, I'm reminded that life imitates art; today is a miracle and we must enjoy it. R.I.P. Seth, your memory does not fade. Thank you, Vicki, for ensuring the art work lives on forever.